Blog silence conclusion and controversy

It might have past just like an ordinary day but I know that by joining other bloggers for this one day blog silence (from posting, reading and writing) I’ve expressed my support to the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting and their families including (on a personal level) other victims of violence around the world (from Ka Jun Mallari, Julia, seven beheaded workers in  Mindanao among others) . It would have made a difference if everybody have joined the exercise–that would have been news but the shooting is already a news anyway. But as with all other campaigns, there are non-believers with some deeming the exercise a farce.

In fact, this small campaign started by Steli Efti has stirred some controversy on the blogosphere according to Massa P.‘s  information. The controversy is whether this campaign was just a simple case of link baiting for a subsequent money-making scheme for the domain owners. But as Massa P. and all the other bloggers commented, this still needs to be proven.

The allegations, however, did not deter the people behind the onedayblogsilence.com, led by Steli Efti, to continue the campaign and remain in their conviction that they are supporting the victims of Virginia Tech. They received support from Lorelle, who wrote a very good entry about the campaign and her own personal conviction about violence, as with Liz, Mihaela and Andy. Steli gave his thoughts on the controversy writing, 

We thought that people will either join or ignore it. Boy, that was so wrong. People who disliked the idea spoke up so loud I can´t believe it. From sending me messages to call me a “jerk”, “idiot” and other things I won´t go into detail here, to forum posts about speculations that our intention was to make money and sell the website after the 30th April or that behind all this, there is a hidden big media company standing.

One blogger who read about the controversy immediately removed any trace of the onedayblogsilence.com on her blogs (links and trackbacks)–without looking at both sides. But I can’t blame her since some of the bloggers blogging against the onedayblogsilence.com are respected bloggers also and blogs about technology.

So, personally, I’m not sure who’s linkbaiting for better technorati ranking. I remember reading a blogging tip that says, ride on controversial issue to increase traffic. 🙂 the plot thickens.

Chocolate for health, anyone?

I meant to post this entry on the dateline of the Daily Express below but I was engulfed with so many things and this draft was overtaken by a number of drafts that I wrote after that. Anyway, here it goes.

A blog entry over fruityoaty inspired me to blog, finally, about this business idea that I was dreaming about since I started hanging out with my coffee-addict colleagues and friends back when I started working, well after my Jollibee days.

Whenever I go to cafes I was a bit frustrated to end up with just one choice of chocolate drink, be it hot or cold, when coffee drinkers have lines of coffee to choose from. I said to myself, why not have a parallel line of chocolate drinks. I discussed this idea/dream with a French friend and told him that I wish to pursue this business idea with a big cafe, possibly with Starbucks or other cafe companies, given a chance.

He told me that it’s a good one and revealed that they have their own way of preparing their chocolate drink. He also told me that Spanish also have their own way of preparing their chocolate drinks. To my surprise I excitedly told him that Filipinos, too, seem to have a different way of preparing chocolate drink. As I’m writing this I’m starting drool and crave for chocolate eh! Well, the discussion certainly confirmed my business idea might actually have some basis or a good one, I mean there are certainly lot of chocolate drinkers around, I suppose, aside from me.

As with coffee, chocolate drinks when prepared in a certain can have that certain taste, texture when you drink it. I like it when it is warm enough first thing in the morning that you can feel it flushing down your throat and washing your heart and feel the lining of your stomach. 🙂 

Well, as for my dream venture either with Starbucks, Black Canyon, Coffee World or any cafe, I still have to save up some money and save those recipes until it becomes a reality. 🙂 Anyone of you can pick this business idea, I’d be a willing customer! But the news below about chocolate made me more of a chocolate drink fanatic and want to pursue lines of chocolate drinks for the masses. So, anybody for a chocolate drink? For health! 🙂

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CHOCOLATE CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE
By Nick Fagge
Daily Express
19 Feb 2007

CHOCOLATE, supercharged with plant compounds, can boost brain power while fighting heart disease and cancer. Scientists have discovered that substances in certain cocoa beans can dramatically improve learning and memory. They boost blood flow to the… read more…Tech Tags: Daily Express newspaper Front Page

Want direction how to get to New York from London? Try Google Maps

I’ve just learned this from Al-Jazeera’s Street Talk by Riz Khan this morning.

Google Maps is trying to outdo Yahoo! Maps in terms of giving service to its clients. Outdo they did. Try getting directions on how to get from New York to London. Here’s a print screen of what you’ll get, notice direction no. 24.

Direction No. 24 says:

Swim across the Atlantic Ocean 3,462 miles

It’s certainly past April Fool’s Day, isn’t it? But Google has their way of making their clients happy. Who’s going to swim that long, well unless you’re trying to break a Guiness record. At least they were kind enough to say how long it was for a swim. eheheh!

I tried getting direction to Manila from Bangkok, both Yahoo! and Google are mum. Waaah, why can’t I go home? 😀

Driving directions cannot be determined between these locations.

-Yahoo! Maps

We could not calculate driving directions between Bangkok and Manila.

Google Maps

The Challenge of the Superduperfriends

My friend and former colleague, Jonas Diego, recently announced the completion of the Superduperfriend site. The site is a satire of US politicians. I haven’t seen the video, for some reason or another I just can’t view it here in Thailand, I’ll try it in the Internet Cafe. Meantime, enjoy. Here’s an excerpt of Jonas’ blog entry about his project.

It’s a parody animation/video we made based on the Saturday morning cartoon, Challenge of the Superfriends (remember the good ole days?). Only instead of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman we got the US Presidential Candidates duking it out in four color wonder.

Nominee for blogger’s choice award (UPDATE)

My good online buddy, Massa P., was kind enough to nominate Blogbastic! as best blog about stuff. 🙂 This is my first nomination but not sure if I would survive the contest as I’m pitted against some of the most read blogs on the blogosphere but it’s a good experience anyway.

You have to register though before you can vote. Unfortunately, I cannot vote for Massa P, or the other blogs or even my blog as I might violate the TOS I have here on wordpress.  I’m still on free blog. As I’ve told Massa P., I might just have to watch the votes from the sidelines and see if my blog will earn some votes.  With the registration requirement, any blogger who would take time to vote suuuuuureeeeely loooooovvvee Blogbastic!

For some reason or another, I was able to register just now and have an option to sign up or NOT with PPP (25 april, 9am bangkok time). So, again the invitation still holds, please vote and yes, the registration was not that tedious after all. 🙂 

One Day Blog Silence on 30 April

When newsmen become the news (UPDATE)

The last thing that any journalist would want to end up with is being the news themselves. So, when I’ve learned that the Philippine Daily Inquirer issued a statement regarding a reported slay try on my former colleague, Mr. Delfin Mallari, Jr., it took me a while to believe what I’m reading. 

I met Ka Jun during one bureau meeting in Lucena City back when I was still with the PDI as a correspondent sometime between 1999 and 2000. I remember that my first impressions of him was that he’s a kind person, humble and seem to be a principled journalist add to that he’s quite a funny guy, too. His slay try came just a day after another newsman was found dead, apparently killed because of his chosen profession.

If you’re a journalist in the Philippines and your in a critical area covering a critical beat especially politics, drugs or illegal gambling, expect the worse to happen anytime you hit a sensitive spot of the industry. So, this would mean that your closest family member should be prepared when the time/day comes for you to be the news. I remember covering the news on the illegal numbers game or Jueteng in Laguna. One of my stories was published. A few days after, suspicious-looking men began surveying our house and was asking for me. It was pretty scary to think that I haven’t written, yet, a critical or explosive story. Suddenly, covering the games of the defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association became interesting. 🙂

National Union of Journalists of the Philippines Chairperson Joe Torres described the events this week as another dark period for Philippine Media. He cited a number of cases of harrassment against journalists in just one week all over the country.

Ka Jun might have survived the slay try and I’m pretty sure that he’ll continue what he loves best but the bullet that almost took his life is still lodged in his body. A grim reminder that his chosen profession is anything but safe.

Ka Jun, second from left, during a rally in August 2004 in front of Camp Crame. They were condemning unresolved killings of journalists in the country. Three years after, he was almost one of the statistics. (From Prof. Danny Arao’s site)

DATESTAMP: 23 April 2007; 10.14pm, Bangkok time

Most of my Filipino readers might have read it over the Philippine Daily Inquirer but here’s an excerpt of Ka Jun’s thoughts on his slay try:

I now realize that being a part of a big national media entity, like the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and being a responsible media practitioner no longer guarantee one’s personal security.

I used to read in various articles about the Philippine media industry being under siege and about journalists being abducted, maimed, tortured and killed by enemies of press freedom.

After condemning the attacks, my naïve, provincial journalist frame of mind just brushed them off as part of the hazards of the profession. I thought that I would never be physically harmed as I had been circumspect in all my writings, no matter how explosive the topic was.

But these justifications seem not valid anymore.

Women benefits

My wife usually asks for an embrace whenever we go to sleep. I mean I don’t mind that but sometimes with my small physique my arms tire and would eventually let go. But hugging benefits women according to a BBC NEWS health article. The gist of the article is that women’s heart particularly benefits from this hugging (and loving?). The benefit is higher for people with loving relationship.

So, give someone a hug and help them have a better heart! and mean it!

Oh yes, by the way, I’M BACK!!! will tell you all in a few days what happened last week.

Inquirer.net & CNN.com blocked in Thailand??? (UPDATE)

(I originally posted this at around 8.30pm, Bangkok time, 11 April please read my update on this post below) 

I usually surf the news on the Internet after office hours, however, I was surprised of what I’ve discovered tonight. At about 8.06pm, Bangkok time, I typed Inquirer.net and this is what I’ve got.  

I’m not sure what’s happening but apparently after Youtube, Inquirer.net and CNN.com got the ire of the Thai Government for some reason.  

This is hot news, I informed Joey and Erwin re the possible blockade for their info. I said to myself, this might be an error on my computer, I refreshed my laptop but the same window.

I tried to check Inquirer Bloggers, to my relief, I can still view the site. 

I surfed CNN.com. Surprise, surprise, this is what I’ve got.

The small English script reads as follows:

ict.cyberclean.org

( Sorry! the web site you are accessing has been blocked by ministry of information and communication technology )

I lost my contacts in CNN so I’m not sure how to inform them but I’m sure they’ve already noticed as they have a regional office here in Bangkok.

They usually do this for pornographic sites but Inquirer.net and CNN.com?? Their news might be too sizzling for the Thai government, well I hope I’m wrong. I tried to key in other news media addresses. Al-Jazeera and BBC are still up, so I might probably be wrong and this might be a simple case of technical mistake???

****

Time stamp: 11.43pm, Bangkok Time, 11 April 2007 

I’m really puzzled of what happened early this evening it’s like I entered a Twilight Zone! When I surfed the internet just to check on the latest on Inquirer.net there was this announcement from Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology. Good thing there’s print screen, so I have an evidence of what I saw and that I’m not just hallucinating.

After blogging about this apparent blockade, I tried to access the Tagalog site of WordPress. Guess what? I was directed to the cyberclean webpage again. I tried to access wordpress.com, while I was able to access it it was in its naked glory. I tried to access Chuckie’s website, it was also blocked!??? (hmm, is it because of Antoniella??).

I’ve received an inquiry from Yuga as to what ISP I’m hooked on, I was on True, which is a private company here. I took his lead and tried to ask my friends based here in Thailand to further confirm the possible blockade. A friend, who’s served by TOT, said the sites that I claimed to be blocked were fine (CNN, Inquirer.net, Tagalog WordPress, A Day In The Life, and yes even my blog), she can read all the news and all my blog entries! (by that time, I couldn’t access or update my blog on Blogbastic! as in only that site, I still have access to my other blogs on wordpress though).

Alas, when I asked two other friends, one confirmed that Inquirer.net was blocked the other confirmed that my blog was blocked, they were also on True. In the process of confirming the sites that they are surfing, one of them told me that she can now has access to part of my blog! I was puzzled and then after a while she can read most of the entries on my blog.

When I checked on my laptop, typed CNN, then Inquirer.net on one tab, then Chuckie’s blog on another, then WordPress Tagalog on another then my blog on another tab–I can see, I can see all of them (sigh…).

It made sense to me now, that last year, I started a blog for a network of communications officer here in the region and even before I could populate it with entries, it got blocked also by the MICT for some reason. When I emailed them for an explanation, no reply was made, I guess if this block was eventually for a longer period, my inquiries would have landed on deaf ears, too.

It was a great relief (to know I still have access on this blog in Bangkok, THAILAND!), puzzling but a bit scary. I’m supposed to be on a blogging hiatus because of an office work load and, have to admit this, because of the contagious moods of Massa P. and Shari. But this event was too good to pass not to be blogged.

Sayang I thought I had a scoop already, but that’s fine at least I have access to my blog again. Now, I can really relate to people having a site and then censored for no reason at all–I mean really no reason or provocation. Enough said.

Lastly, many thanks to Abe, Erwin and Joey for having the time to look into this info. Thanks to Liza and Danny, Mel and Ligh for helping me confirm this event.

Thai Youtube blockade sparks video wars

Thailand’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology got its wish from Google and Youtube. Traces of the offensive video have been removed, however, the issue sparked a number of protest and triggered an onset of attack on the Thai monarchy online.

So, brace for a prolonged battle of videos online. But nobody’s retaliating against the offensive video, but how are they going to hit back? This is just like Thailand’s battle down south–they don’t know who the enemies are.